rca2000
05-16-2005, 04:50 AM
You never know... one day, you have not found many old tv's in a while... THEN.. TWO, in one weekend!!! Friday, I was informed of a 1965 RCA ctc-16 roundie combo, that was to be sold, by a fellow member of the raduio club. SO, after being told it was upstairs, where probably NO ONE else would bother it, I decided to wait till saturday, the second day of the house sale, where this tv was, and go check it out.
Saturday, around these parts, it was raining. Oh well, that will NOT stop me, from a tv-run!! SO, I go to check it, and they only wanted $2.00 for it. I got it, and more info is posted about it, on another thread.
BUT THEN... Tonight, the same guy called me, and told me of ANOTHER old tv, Probably an RCA ctc-24, he thought. In the trash, with about 3 days to go, till pickup. I decided to check this one out. turns out, it was a ctc25xa, which is like a ctc25, BUT with a 6aq5 audio out. instead of SS audio, like the 25. Overall, the chassis looks like a ctc24. (including that "digital looking" channel readout window!!)
My van is full of sams, speakers, and a 36" JVC tv right now, so he helped me pick up the tv, in his SW. We took the back off the set, and right away, I noticed a CRT-protector (the little plastic one, placed on the base of new tubes, to protect them), stuck betwen the degaussing shield and the bell of the tube. WELL- a newer tube. That is a good sign!! Then, I opened the cage, and looked at the fly. It does NOT look like an original, and is GOOD, with no wax dripping. SO, after first firing the set, with the output tube cap unhooked, with no events, and some sound, and, after a careful examination, for troubles, we gaver 'er "full power"!!
SUCCESS!! good ,bright raster, and with an antenna, a good PICTURE, with good color!! Of course, this means, I have a GREAT CRT, with NO cataracts, a good fly, power tranny, and such. I let it run about 10 minutes or so, and then pulled the plug, and checked the fly. NOT even warm. Reapplied power, and ran about 10-15 more minutes.
The only issues were:: (1) the purity is off a little, along with the convergence, much of this has been corrected by "eye" already;(2) there is a little bit of ripple, just a TEENY bit, and when the brightenss is near full, the picture defocuses some(this is probably related to the ripple problem, no doubt a bad cap or two, though none were running even warm, or possibly a weak shunt reg;and the VHF tuner has a fine tuning problem,(I was using a UHF channel, to check operation with.) Also, the 6aq5 audio output is a little weak, we subbed another ,NOS one, and it did get noticeably louder, BUT the old one worked somewhat ok. Overal, though, the set is quite good, with a nice cabinet, (except for the top, there is a water stain on it, from a plant or somethnig) It has a GOOD picture, and good color, and after 20 or more minutes, the fly is BARELY even warm!! SO, I figure this was an EXCELLENT find, and a bit of irony, one of the first things I saw on the tube,after applying power with the HO operational, was someone talking about a landfill debate, showing garbage trucks, landfills, bulldozers crushing garbage, etc; kinda coincidental, considering that is where this set was headed!!
Saturday, around these parts, it was raining. Oh well, that will NOT stop me, from a tv-run!! SO, I go to check it, and they only wanted $2.00 for it. I got it, and more info is posted about it, on another thread.
BUT THEN... Tonight, the same guy called me, and told me of ANOTHER old tv, Probably an RCA ctc-24, he thought. In the trash, with about 3 days to go, till pickup. I decided to check this one out. turns out, it was a ctc25xa, which is like a ctc25, BUT with a 6aq5 audio out. instead of SS audio, like the 25. Overall, the chassis looks like a ctc24. (including that "digital looking" channel readout window!!)
My van is full of sams, speakers, and a 36" JVC tv right now, so he helped me pick up the tv, in his SW. We took the back off the set, and right away, I noticed a CRT-protector (the little plastic one, placed on the base of new tubes, to protect them), stuck betwen the degaussing shield and the bell of the tube. WELL- a newer tube. That is a good sign!! Then, I opened the cage, and looked at the fly. It does NOT look like an original, and is GOOD, with no wax dripping. SO, after first firing the set, with the output tube cap unhooked, with no events, and some sound, and, after a careful examination, for troubles, we gaver 'er "full power"!!
SUCCESS!! good ,bright raster, and with an antenna, a good PICTURE, with good color!! Of course, this means, I have a GREAT CRT, with NO cataracts, a good fly, power tranny, and such. I let it run about 10 minutes or so, and then pulled the plug, and checked the fly. NOT even warm. Reapplied power, and ran about 10-15 more minutes.
The only issues were:: (1) the purity is off a little, along with the convergence, much of this has been corrected by "eye" already;(2) there is a little bit of ripple, just a TEENY bit, and when the brightenss is near full, the picture defocuses some(this is probably related to the ripple problem, no doubt a bad cap or two, though none were running even warm, or possibly a weak shunt reg;and the VHF tuner has a fine tuning problem,(I was using a UHF channel, to check operation with.) Also, the 6aq5 audio output is a little weak, we subbed another ,NOS one, and it did get noticeably louder, BUT the old one worked somewhat ok. Overal, though, the set is quite good, with a nice cabinet, (except for the top, there is a water stain on it, from a plant or somethnig) It has a GOOD picture, and good color, and after 20 or more minutes, the fly is BARELY even warm!! SO, I figure this was an EXCELLENT find, and a bit of irony, one of the first things I saw on the tube,after applying power with the HO operational, was someone talking about a landfill debate, showing garbage trucks, landfills, bulldozers crushing garbage, etc; kinda coincidental, considering that is where this set was headed!!